Greetings all,
Thanks for stopping by again or even stumbling on to my
blog. I’ve had very exciting events which I want to share with you. Firstly I
think it’s fair to say that I have truly settled into my new home and my
alerting skills are getting better by the day. I’ve been living with L&M
(and Bracken) for 4 months and 5 days or 127 days in total so far and in this
time L has recorded 1643 blood glucose
tests. So that works out as 12-13 tests a day on average. Now I know that you
are reading this to learn about me and all things doggified but the testing of L’s bG (blood glucose) plays an important
part in my work. She has a little machine which will tell her exactly how much
sugar (glucose) is contained in her blood. All she has to do is prick her
finger to get a drop of blood, which she puts on a test strip and then the
machine which has the test strip plugged into it gives her the calculation of
glucose. L has started to refer to
the machine as a Lie Detector as if I perform an Alert she will always check to
make sure I’m getting it right. Sometimes though my nose is so brilliant I can
warn her that her blood glucose isn’t right up to an hour or more ahead of when
her blood glucose drops to hypo level. How amazing is that?
So you may be wandering what I’ve got up to since you last
stopped by. Well as always I’ve been enjoying the sunshine and plenty of fun
playing in the garden with Bracken. L
decided she might start a new garden project by setting up a container pond.
Now when I moved in I found the container and it was already full to the brim
with water…which although appeared a little green at times made quite a nice
drinking bowl. Now however L has
assumed ownership of the container and will discourage Bracken & I from drinking
out of it. She’s even added a small water-lily, a grass which grows underwater
and makes oxygen and a sticky out plant which looks like bamboo grass twisted
into corkscrews. Aside from no longer being allowed to drink the water I have
also received commands that I can’t chew on the fun looking grass…or even eat
the few water snails which have been added. I will often lie near to this
‘not-quite-a-pond-yet-in-my-opinion’ container and watch how the birds bathe in
it. And it also has a frog and a toad (real ones too). None of this lot gets in
to any trouble for going in it, but if I try to just sip a little I get
directed to the ever so boring normal water bowl not far away. I wonder if L is even aware of all these other
creatures which are breaking her rules. So anyway, as L got into the container pond project we decided it would be
good to visit an aquatic shop to see what suitable plants they had. So we drove
to a nearby garden centre which also has the aquatic shop on its premises and
we took a look around. I was obviously wearing my work jacket and looked
gorgeous as ever as the sun shone down and then we entered the aquatic shop… <der
der der>…this place was soooo weird. It was very warm inside and smelt wet.
As we walked along the isles we moved towards these big glass boxes and I saw
lots of funny shaped things (they had no legs) at the back of the box which was
at my level. As I moved closer to sniff the funny things all shot forward at me
and I jumped back away from them. L&M told me it was ok and had a giggle, so I
wagged my tail to show I wasn’t scared. I kept my ears in an alert position
though as the weird things had moved back to the other side of the glass box.
How do they move? They have no legs and look like they are floating or flying…I
suspect they may be alien life-forms. L then led me away towards the next glass
box and the things in this one were smaller and stayed back. L bent down to pet me and explained the
aliens are fish and that they live in the water. Ok, so now I understand what
these weird things are but honestly, unless I get taken to the sea or river and
the water is clear when I stick my head in it…when else am I likely to see
alien fishies? I think jumping at the sight of them was a natural response and
when I next see some I’ll know what they are. L
then talked to M about whether
assistance dogs are allowed to visit aquariums? And what a dog would make of
being in an underwater viewing tube? So if I do ever get taken to an Aquarium
I’ll guess I’ll have to write and let you all know what I think. All I do know
for now is that I don’t think L will
be able to fit any fish into her container pond. I’m not scared of fish though,
I was soon posing for photos.
The next exciting event was attending my very 1st
wedding. I even got an invitation along with L&M from the wonderful couple Carol &
Jules. This was due to be a very big event for me as I would be in my work
jacket for a very long time and it was taking place on an island with lots of
people wearing very nice clothes (so not opportunity for cheeky cuddles which
transfer lots of dog hair).
L warned
me that there was NO WAY I should even think about pulling one of my famed
“Frodo manoeuvres” with the bride in her gorgeous white dress. Now for those of
you who have not met me yet, my “Frodo manoeuvre” involves finding the perfect
opportunity to sneak between body parts and turn the intended activity into a
cuddle. For example I am very apt at sticking my head under people’s arms when
they bend over to put on /pull off wellies and I have recently perfected the
manoeuvre of sticking my head between L’s arms and her jeans as she tries to
pull them on in the morning. I have worked out that if I put a lot of pressure with
my head on to the waist band she is trying to pull up towards her waist, I pull
her down further and then quickly lift my head to get into the strategic cuddle
position. So getting too close to the bride in her gorgeous white dress and
covering it in my gorgeous black fur was ruled out of things I could consider
doing. Next on the “make sure you don’t” list was chasing peacocks. The island
had its own resident peacocks, ducks and geese and I was reminded on several occasions
that to chase was not an option during my stay at the island. I think at this
point however it’s only fair to point out that nobody told the peacocks not to
chase the dog did they? One of them also made a point of spying on me through
the bedroom window when we first arrived in our room. There I was happily sat
on my bed and outside I was being stalked by a peacock.
Then during the
ceremony it spotted me again and made an approach towards me. I wagged my tail
like I was happy to see it, but it looked to me as if it was looking for
trouble. L whispered the “Leave”
command so I turned to look the other way and the peacock changed its mind
about bothering me and walked off.
The wedding ceremony was outside with a view of the river.
The bride actually arrived by boat which I found quite exciting, as I don’t get
to see many of those when out on walks in the countryside. And the next
exciting new thing I got to do was go on my very first boat ride, which was
kindly laid on for us guests by the bride & groom.
I was a little reluctant
to get on to the boat so the captain kindly lifted me aboard and then I just
got to settle down as we pootled along the river. The rocking of the water was
very relaxing and I was soon asleep, albeit on top of the groom’s mum’s feet. L tried to get me to move but was told I
made a super foot warmer so she left me where I was. And I was a lot braver about getting out of
the boat, and as soon as we docked I jumped out right behind L. And we got back just in time for
FOOOOOOOD.
As we entered to view the seating plan for all the guests, I
was VERY HAPPY to see my name listed. Name on seating plan = plate of food J We located our table
where I even had a place setting…however there seemed to have been a mistake as
the duck breast I had been longing for was mistakenly recorded as water.
As I
was wearing my jacket and this was a special event I did the honourable thing
and didn’t complain, but lay down next to the table to catch a few Z’s. It
worked out quite well as I could smell all the delicious food that was being
served and dreamt that I was eating it. Not a bad way to relax while working if
you ask me.
After the lovely meal it was time for us to go back outside
and relax. I liked this part as I got to go back to our room and have my own
dinner. A delectable collection of white fish rice based dog biscuits which
could challenge the duck that all the other guests were raving about, I don’t
mind telling you! Then we returned outside to watch the boats going past and
enjoy the wedding celebrations. This is the point where as an Assistance Dog I
showed just how fantastic I can be. It was decided L would make the trips to the bar as she required the
training of managing a dog while carrying a round of drinks…so off we set. When
I was at the bar lots of people came across to talk to me. And as I like a fuss
and L likes a chat, well it’s
neither of our faults that the 1st round took almost 40 minutes to
return with. Plenty of people offered to carry the tray of drinks for L, but as we were in training we declined
and I walked to heal like a professional.
After a couple more rounds we decided to let
our fur down and hit the dance floor. At first I wasn’t too sure what to make
of the dodgy dance moves going on around me…so I sat next to the dance floor
and watched. After a short while of that, people couldn’t resist my charms and
stopped dancing to come over to chat to me and tell me how good I was being.
Soon enough I was proving I was the coolest dog at the wedding and slept next
to the dance floor. Too cool to dance if you know what I mean!
As first weddings go (attendance that is) I think this one
rocked! I’m not sure if it will ever be matched, so thank you Carol and Jules
for inviting me… (I’m sorry that in order to get me along you had to invite L too). I hope if you read this you don’t
mind me sharing with people how great your special day was? If you happen to
see those two paparazzi again who couldn’t resist taking photos…feel free to
tell them I’m available for modelling sometimes…
Maybe they’ll let me share some of their professional photos on my blog
too…so my fans can see how well my training is going.
Once again, thanks for stopping by and I will report next
time on the classic car show I’m attending and how I am going to the village
Primary School to help them learn about Medical Detection Dogs/ Assistance Dogs
and other things. Wish me luck!!!
Frodo xxx
